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Stress is indeed the cure for laziness. As soon as we learned the information about the avenger, anxiety began to creep onto the faces of my companions.

Their trembling eyes, colored with unease as if they had never known joy, showed no trace of guilt. These were people who had already rationalized their actions. They were more worried about the future raiders than the past children who had died by their hands.

“Should we move?” one companion calmly asked. The person I had nicknamed the “Deceptive Mercenary,” a figure of concern, looked around the mountain slopes and spoke serenely.

“If the Delivery Vigilante Group comes to investigate the dead, our location will be exposed. And if our location is exposed, even one person seeking revenge could set a fire.”

When people harbor malice, the mountain itself becomes a weapon. If the massive pile of wood that is the mountain catches fire, the damage would be greater than a few artillery shells.

If the fire spreads properly, the range would be terrifying, and in terms of destroying resources to make winter harsher, it would be akin to a biochemical weapon.

But should we run because of that? And follow the advice of that annoying Deceptive Mercenary?

“Moving is pointless,” I said shortly.

Running? Pillagers running because they’re scared of the enemy? Of course, strategic retreats for guerrilla tactics are fine, but running just for the sake of running is not an option.

This is our karma, a chain of revenge.

“The end of a fall is a collision, and the end of a collision is either one or both dying. Avoidance was never an option.”

My companions sighed. The sound of them adjusting their guns and regretful mutterings filled the air.

“We should have killed them all back then.”

The day we killed the children in the market, we should have taken the teacher and the children hostage and killed them all.

The dulling momentum of the pillagers was sharpening again. That was a good thing.

I stifled a laugh that threatened to escape and quickly wrote a scenario.

“Right now, the Delivery Vigilante Group doesn’t know what happened to the missing. They’ll come to investigate first. Let’s deal with that.”

We have the upper hand in information. I glanced at the motorcycle and the corpse.

“Let’s set these up as bait and kill whoever takes the bait.”

The cycle of revenge. I killed the children in the market, the survivor wants to kill us, so I’ll kill the survivor and the Delivery Vigilante Group. It’s an apocalyptic virtuous cycle.

As long as this cycle continues, we won’t grow dull. Even if it ends with me and my companions dead, it doesn’t matter. People die anyway.

Sajihyeok, wearing his helmet crookedly, raised his hand in panic.

“This will make us complete enemies with the Delivery Vigilante Group. We also need to consider our relationship with the Alliance. If we just hide the bodies and motorcycles, or if we talk it out…”

“Mr. Sajihyeok.”

I cut him off and looked at him quietly.

There’s a lot to say. The Delivery Vigilante Group is already an enemy, our relationship with other organizations in the Alliance is fine, the Alliance is also a potential enemy, hiding things becomes a weakness and a mental burden…

But all that is pointless. There’s only one thing that matters.

“There is no avoidance.”

You can’t avoid it even if you want to.

“Hide? For how long? As long as the avenger is alive, a fight is inevitable, and if a fight is inevitable, we should naturally take the initiative. Or are you suggesting…”

I paused and let out a hollow laugh.

“…that we can resolve this through dialogue or reconciliation? You know that’s not possible in this world, right?”

“…”

Sajihyeok adjusted his crooked helmet and covered his eyes. His head tilted.

Maybe Sajihyeok, being a scammer, tried to fabricate the facts. That rider was trying to set a fire, and we stopped him, is the Delivery Vigilante Group declaring war, trying to temporarily patch up the conflict.

“Why so serious? Whether we move or fight, what we need to do for now seems simple.”

As the atmosphere grew heavy, Park Yang-gun spoke in an intrigued voice and vaulted over the barricade. His movements were light, like a thief.

Park Yang-gun went to the motorcycle, pulled out the key, and turned off the engine.

“This is a chance to steal motorcycles. If we lure in a few delivery riders, we can get more motorcycles. Gas is a bonus.”

I blinked. That’s true too. Even if we need to retreat strategically, having motorcycles would give us an advantage.

Pillaging really is the best. You get all sorts of resources just by killing.

“Alright, let’s start by setting up the trap.”

I already wrote the scenario. We’ll set the bait at the foot of the road leading up to the townhouse, near a suitable commercial building. To make it impossible to ignore, we’ll dress the survivor’s corpse in a school uniform.

“While we’re at it, find a school uniform. We need to change the corpse’s clothes.”

“No, that’s not really necessary.”

“No, it’s important.”

It’s about making the corpse irresistible to investigate. In short, my companions busily moved around.

***

At the foot of the townhouse, there’s a commercial building with a convenience store and a cafe. It’s a path you must take to go up to the townhouse.

We set up the bait and traps there.

We placed the motorcycle with the engine off and the corpse in a school uniform in front of the convenience store, while a few companions waited on the second floor with banners woven like nets.

“Try to kill them with weapons other than firearms if possible. Make the autopsy difficult. And remember, we need to steal the motorcycles too.”

“Yes.”

I swung my sling and looked down the street.

We killed today, so at the earliest, they’ll come to investigate tomorrow. There’s time to refine the scenario. How far will this conflict go, how should we move?

‘We can fabricate the incident. Say the rider tried to set a fire. We can use our connections with the police. If luck is on our side, we can cause a split.’

If we fight? Arson. Start with this mountain and burn the city. They won’t have the spirit to fight me. Meanwhile, I can escape the city.

As I tapped my thigh with my finger, thinking, I heard Jeondohyeong’s gloomy voice from behind.

“What next? After we kill the survivors and the Delivery Vigilante Group? What if someone else seeks revenge? What about the other survivors who escaped? Can we handle all that?”

I turned my head and saw Jeondohyeong crouched in the shadowy corner, looking at me. I blinked quietly.

If we can’t handle it, we’ll just die, so what? But I can’t say that.

I looked at Jeondohyeong with pity.

“What month is it now?”

“October. Why do you ask?”

Jeondohyeong looked at me blankly, tilting his head.

I looked out the window. It was full autumn. The temperature was dropping, and now you could feel the cold in the early mornings and nights.

“How many will survive the winter?”

“That’s…”

This winter will be a season of death. In the season where everything is bleached by white snow, where snow covers corpses, how many will survive?

“We don’t need to handle it. They’ll all freeze to death in winter. So, we need to pillage now.”

It’s autumn, so we can harvest our karma. In fact, if we don’t do it now, we won’t be able to. When winter comes, we’ll have to focus more on scavenging than pillaging.

I spoke to my companions, who were perking up their ears, in a moderate tone.

“If we get gas from the motorcycles, we can use the car’s heating. If we handle this well, we can get resources from the Delivery Vigilante Group or the Alliance.”

“What… Why would they give us resources?”

“Why would they?”

I grinned at Jeondohyeong, who looked incredulous.

“That mysterious rider tried to set the mountain on fire, right? For some reason, he attacked us.”

This isn’t my style or plan, but I said what my companions wanted to hear. It was an application of the exit strategy I learned from Sajihyeok.

Even if they’re companions, their basic goal is survival. There’s no one who wants to live as carefree as I do, ready to die at any moment.

Situations spiraling toward death can lead to betrayal, so I had to guide their thoughts with the plausible pretext and goal of survival.

“More nonsense… Well, it might be possible.”

Jeondohyeong sighed and bowed his head.

I observed him quietly. Was there any sign of betrayal? A man with a shred of goodness left. He seemed satisfied with the goal of his companions’ survival, but you never know.

“We’re doing this to survive. Don’t overthink it. There’s no one in this world who hasn’t killed someone. We’re no different. We just killed more to live better.”

When you think about it, we’re not special.

All survivors fought over the limited resources in the city. We just pillaged a bit more actively, but the basic principle of action was that of a standard survivor.

Then one companion muttered in a low voice.

“That’s right. Everyone is a murderer who killed someone’s family. Maybe the ones seeking revenge are the strange ones. Death is common in this world.”

What’s with this guy? A companion I don’t remember, looking very gloomy. The atmosphere got unnecessarily heavy.

Companions who had experienced loss began to speak up.

“My wife was killed by a zombie, but I don’t feel like seeking revenge.”

“My mom died from illness because she couldn’t get medicine. I don’t even know who to blame.”

“I attacked someone, and they came for revenge… I got my revenge, but it felt hollow.”

Suddenly, it became a competition of who had lost more. I looked at my companions in disbelief and leaned against the wall.

I can’t brag here that my parents passed away before the apocalypse, so I didn’t have to see them suffer.

 

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